Friday, March 28, 2014

Why I Love Shopping in Japan


Japan is my most favorite country to shop at. Yeah, Hong Kong only comes next, and Bangkok comes third. While many think that shopping in Japan is ridiculously expensive, I'm here to be a myth buster. Shopping in Japan could be more expensive than shopping in other Asian countries. However, the technique here is to know where and when to shop in Japan just so you could get a good deal, most especially for signature items.

All of my previous trips in Japan were during Spring; and as far as I can remember, I was able to catch a lot of bargain items due to the changing of the season from Winter to Spring. I remembered shopping a lot from H&M and in Harajuku. Well Shibuya 109 is their fashion center but everything there is just expensive no matter what season it is. The brands there are all local designer brands and those shops really set the trend.

The best time to shop in Japan is from mid-December to mid-January. This is when you see the SALE sign everywhere! One weekend in December, we went to Yatsugatame Resort Outlet (outlet shops of local and foreign brands) and we've gone crazy shopping at Coach Factory where we shopped for an hour. We got 2 wallets, 3 bags, 2 bangles for just 100,000 yen or less (around Php 40,000). The Japanese people are too shopaholic that there are a lot of outlet malls/parks all over Japan. The biggest of which is the Mitsui Outlet Park Shiga Ryuo in Kyoto with 237 stores. The one we went to was the nearest to our place (less than an hour drive), located at 4000 Kobuchizawa-machi (town) Hokuto-shi (city), Yamanashi-ken (province).

 photo 1531807_10152321708351369_544038538_n_zpscc5e50d6.jpg
 photo 1237081_10152321705906369_1629554833_n_zpsb79bf474.jpg


The craziest shopping day is the New Year's Day! Yeah, what a way to spend so much on the first day of the year haha! Every New Year, most of the shops, most especially the local brands are preparing HAPPY BAGS. Each happy bag is filled with an entire set of outfit or multiple random items from a store and it's available on promo price. The usual price of a "happy bag" is 10,000 yen or Php 4,300. But its content is actual worth more than that. However, the catch here is that, you don't know what exact items are inside -- the style, design, color. What you only know is the size and the actual worth of all the items inside. Well, I've seen some that displayed the actual content of the bag but they're more expensive than the surprise ones. I watched in the news that there's this shop wherein a lot of people have already lined up at dawn to get HAPPY BAGS worth 10,000 yen each but are filled with items worth 100,000 yen or Php 43,000. Can you just imagine how awesome of a bargain that is?!? (I actually took photos of the happy bags but I lost them 'cause I failed to sync them to my laptop before deleting them)

 photo ScreenShot2014-03-28at13410AM_zpsdc7c8b90.png

So on New Year's Day, I went shopping in Tokyo with my cousin and aunts and I spent 2 hours in H&M because there were a lot of ridiculously discounted items and a lot of customers as well. I bought 10 items for only 5,000 yen of Php 2,200. That's a mix of dresses, shorts, tops, and skirts. I could've bought more but I limited my spending and my family has been waiting for me for so long at a resto across H&M. haha!

 photo 1383793_10152322637446369_1213746937_n_zps15c948b1.jpg
H&M Harajuku
 photo 1148791_10152322636006369_472084088_n_zps071f6550.jpg
 photo 1920585_10152322635776369_1416481536_n_zps5b0a43d8.jpg
at the roof deck of Tokyu Plaza (Harajuku)
 photo 1959471_10152322638161369_489575187_n_zpse7720cc6.jpg
will never get tired of shopping for bargain finds


In Japan, we live in the province but we're just a minute or two away from boutiques and department stores. I think we go shopping like at least twice a week. On weekends we go to the malls in nearby cities such as the Aeon Mall in Kofu (Yamanashi), Don Quijote (Matsumoto, Nagano), etc. Imagine how much this trip damaged my pocket. But still, I was thankful 'cause I got a lot of free shopping from my aunt, uncle, and cousin.

 photo 1978852_10152322639001369_1786111662_n_zps2ff1ae02.jpg
my cousin is my forever shopping buddy

Friday, March 7, 2014

Hardware Zone Magazine Philippines Holiday Gift Guide 2013/2014

This is a super late post. Sorry, it almost slipped my mind. But hey, better late than never.

Last October, I got invited by Hardware Zone Magazine (HWM) Philippines to be a part of the style team of their Holiday Gift Guide 2013/2014. It's like a catalogue of products (not only gadgets but even apparel) that serves as a source of gift ideas. It was actually out in the market from December 2013 to February 2014.

Our models were Angelia Ong, Ladylyn Riva, and Farah Ramos. And I co-styled the wardrobe and the hair of the models together with Shiela Del Rosario. The shoot coordinator was Darlene Sasan of HWM, and hey, they're all my friends. It seemed like a "barkada" project for us.

The themes were: couch potato, adventurous/explorer, and party animal.

Here are the final output:

 photo HWM-Holiday-Gift-Guide-2014_zpsb94a7d59.jpg
Lady on the cover wearing Solari Clothing's "Lush" dress
 photo HWM-Holiday-Gift-Guide-20146_zps41a38ed8.jpg
 photo HWM-Holiday-Gift-Guide-201458_zps0108c9d2.jpg
 photo HWM-Holiday-Gift-Guide-201470_zpsdea44b4e.jpg
 photo HWM-Holiday-Gift-Guide-201452_zps9bf40507.jpg
 photo HWM-Holiday-Gift-Guide-201464_zpse6b0da5b.jpg
 photo HWM-Holiday-Gift-Guide-201426_zpsc696152f.jpg
 photo HWM-Holiday-Gift-Guide-201430_zps5ac10d5a.jpg
 photo HWM-Holiday-Gift-Guide-201420_zps96fa2f91.jpg
 photo HWM-Holiday-Gift-Guide-201416_zps959e2b40.jpg
 photo IMG_2339copy_zps9e93f13d.png
 photo IMG_3664copy_zps7d3d2554.png
 photo IMG_7849copy_zps5edc38a3.png

Here's our team:

 photo 1379331_10151984183751369_1103586964_n_zps9ed5b3ec.jpg


And we're about to work on the HWM Summer Gift Guide 2014. Stay tuned!:)


xoxo,

city girl

Friday, March 28, 2014

Why I Love Shopping in Japan


Japan is my most favorite country to shop at. Yeah, Hong Kong only comes next, and Bangkok comes third. While many think that shopping in Japan is ridiculously expensive, I'm here to be a myth buster. Shopping in Japan could be more expensive than shopping in other Asian countries. However, the technique here is to know where and when to shop in Japan just so you could get a good deal, most especially for signature items.

All of my previous trips in Japan were during Spring; and as far as I can remember, I was able to catch a lot of bargain items due to the changing of the season from Winter to Spring. I remembered shopping a lot from H&M and in Harajuku. Well Shibuya 109 is their fashion center but everything there is just expensive no matter what season it is. The brands there are all local designer brands and those shops really set the trend.

The best time to shop in Japan is from mid-December to mid-January. This is when you see the SALE sign everywhere! One weekend in December, we went to Yatsugatame Resort Outlet (outlet shops of local and foreign brands) and we've gone crazy shopping at Coach Factory where we shopped for an hour. We got 2 wallets, 3 bags, 2 bangles for just 100,000 yen or less (around Php 40,000). The Japanese people are too shopaholic that there are a lot of outlet malls/parks all over Japan. The biggest of which is the Mitsui Outlet Park Shiga Ryuo in Kyoto with 237 stores. The one we went to was the nearest to our place (less than an hour drive), located at 4000 Kobuchizawa-machi (town) Hokuto-shi (city), Yamanashi-ken (province).

 photo 1531807_10152321708351369_544038538_n_zpscc5e50d6.jpg
 photo 1237081_10152321705906369_1629554833_n_zpsb79bf474.jpg


The craziest shopping day is the New Year's Day! Yeah, what a way to spend so much on the first day of the year haha! Every New Year, most of the shops, most especially the local brands are preparing HAPPY BAGS. Each happy bag is filled with an entire set of outfit or multiple random items from a store and it's available on promo price. The usual price of a "happy bag" is 10,000 yen or Php 4,300. But its content is actual worth more than that. However, the catch here is that, you don't know what exact items are inside -- the style, design, color. What you only know is the size and the actual worth of all the items inside. Well, I've seen some that displayed the actual content of the bag but they're more expensive than the surprise ones. I watched in the news that there's this shop wherein a lot of people have already lined up at dawn to get HAPPY BAGS worth 10,000 yen each but are filled with items worth 100,000 yen or Php 43,000. Can you just imagine how awesome of a bargain that is?!? (I actually took photos of the happy bags but I lost them 'cause I failed to sync them to my laptop before deleting them)

 photo ScreenShot2014-03-28at13410AM_zpsdc7c8b90.png

So on New Year's Day, I went shopping in Tokyo with my cousin and aunts and I spent 2 hours in H&M because there were a lot of ridiculously discounted items and a lot of customers as well. I bought 10 items for only 5,000 yen of Php 2,200. That's a mix of dresses, shorts, tops, and skirts. I could've bought more but I limited my spending and my family has been waiting for me for so long at a resto across H&M. haha!

 photo 1383793_10152322637446369_1213746937_n_zps15c948b1.jpg
H&M Harajuku
 photo 1148791_10152322636006369_472084088_n_zps071f6550.jpg
 photo 1920585_10152322635776369_1416481536_n_zps5b0a43d8.jpg
at the roof deck of Tokyu Plaza (Harajuku)
 photo 1959471_10152322638161369_489575187_n_zpse7720cc6.jpg
will never get tired of shopping for bargain finds


In Japan, we live in the province but we're just a minute or two away from boutiques and department stores. I think we go shopping like at least twice a week. On weekends we go to the malls in nearby cities such as the Aeon Mall in Kofu (Yamanashi), Don Quijote (Matsumoto, Nagano), etc. Imagine how much this trip damaged my pocket. But still, I was thankful 'cause I got a lot of free shopping from my aunt, uncle, and cousin.

 photo 1978852_10152322639001369_1786111662_n_zps2ff1ae02.jpg
my cousin is my forever shopping buddy

Friday, March 7, 2014

Hardware Zone Magazine Philippines Holiday Gift Guide 2013/2014

This is a super late post. Sorry, it almost slipped my mind. But hey, better late than never.

Last October, I got invited by Hardware Zone Magazine (HWM) Philippines to be a part of the style team of their Holiday Gift Guide 2013/2014. It's like a catalogue of products (not only gadgets but even apparel) that serves as a source of gift ideas. It was actually out in the market from December 2013 to February 2014.

Our models were Angelia Ong, Ladylyn Riva, and Farah Ramos. And I co-styled the wardrobe and the hair of the models together with Shiela Del Rosario. The shoot coordinator was Darlene Sasan of HWM, and hey, they're all my friends. It seemed like a "barkada" project for us.

The themes were: couch potato, adventurous/explorer, and party animal.

Here are the final output:

 photo HWM-Holiday-Gift-Guide-2014_zpsb94a7d59.jpg
Lady on the cover wearing Solari Clothing's "Lush" dress
 photo HWM-Holiday-Gift-Guide-20146_zps41a38ed8.jpg
 photo HWM-Holiday-Gift-Guide-201458_zps0108c9d2.jpg
 photo HWM-Holiday-Gift-Guide-201470_zpsdea44b4e.jpg
 photo HWM-Holiday-Gift-Guide-201452_zps9bf40507.jpg
 photo HWM-Holiday-Gift-Guide-201464_zpse6b0da5b.jpg
 photo HWM-Holiday-Gift-Guide-201426_zpsc696152f.jpg
 photo HWM-Holiday-Gift-Guide-201430_zps5ac10d5a.jpg
 photo HWM-Holiday-Gift-Guide-201420_zps96fa2f91.jpg
 photo HWM-Holiday-Gift-Guide-201416_zps959e2b40.jpg
 photo IMG_2339copy_zps9e93f13d.png
 photo IMG_3664copy_zps7d3d2554.png
 photo IMG_7849copy_zps5edc38a3.png

Here's our team:

 photo 1379331_10151984183751369_1103586964_n_zps9ed5b3ec.jpg


And we're about to work on the HWM Summer Gift Guide 2014. Stay tuned!:)


xoxo,

city girl